10 Easy Options for Expanding Your Dominant 7th Vocabulary

What’s the most important chord progression that you need to know as a musician? Well that’s a good question…In the past we’ve explored some common chord relationships that you’ll encounter as an improviser, but there is one chord relationship that sticks out above the rest. Any guesses?

It’s the relationship of the five chord to the one chord…V7 to I.

The Dominant/Tonic relationship is at the foundation of Western music from Baroque concertos, to Mahler symphonies, to Louis Armstrong, to Coltrane and the Beatles.

In nearly every standard that you’ll practice or perform as an improviser, you’re going to encounter the V7 to I chord relationship.

The Blues, Rhythm Changes, Stella by Starlight, Giant Steps, All the Things You Are…it all goes back to V7 resolving to I. If you haven’t already worked on this dominant to tonic relationship, now is the time to get started.

The Basics

For many players, the most common way to access the Dominant 7th to Tonic sound is with the Mixolydian mode:

The other common rule that many players also fall back on for V7 to I is the natural voice-leading motion between these two chords. Coming from an analytical perspective, the voice leading “rules” of the V to I relationship are resolving the 7th of the V chord to the 3rd of the I chord:

7-3 Resolution

And the 3rd of V7 to the root of the I chord:

3-1 (Leading tone) Resolution

This is a fine place to start conceptualizing these chords in your mind and your ear, however these two scales and voice leading rules are just the beginning. To really start improvise over a Dominant 7 sound you need to go even further…

Learn the language

The next logical step after learning and ingraining these scales and voice leading rules is transcribing. Remember, a scale within itself is not music, however a scale can serve as the building blocks in constructing a musical line.

Checking out the blues is a great place to start gathering some language – it’s 12 bars centered around a V7 sound. With transcribed language, you’ll bridge the gap between playing scales & chord tones and actually creating musical phrases in real time.

In terms of theory, the majority of the notes in this line are all from the G7 bebop scale, however in Freddie’s solo you don’t hear scales, you hear music.

The line has shape and forward motion from one sound to the next, not a static scale devoid of any musicality. Herein lies the difference between improvising with scales and musical language.

The goal of improvising is to create musical phrases that communicate with the listener.

You need to turn those scales, instrumental techniques, and theory knowledge into a musical language that people actually want to listen to. This means devoting time to transcribing language over common chords and progressions.

But what is the next step after you’ve gathered some basic V7 language?

10 Dominant 7th Alterations

At the heart of the dominant/tonic relationship is tension and release – the movement from conflict and uncertainty to eventual musical resolution. The V7 chord is full of unlimited possibility.

As you craft your solo, there is a spectrum of dissonance that you can manipulate over this chord movement depending on your harmonic approach. Some altered notes will be mildly dissonant, while others will clash intensely with the harmony and beg for resolution.

There are many ways that you can alter the V7 sound to create more dissonance and accentuate the eventual melodic and harmonic resolution to the tonic. Below we’ll explore 10 options that you can use over V7 chords.

With each of the harmonic alterations that we’ll cover, remember that each one must be approached as musical language, not as a music theory exercise…

1) V7 flat 9

One of the easiest ways to alter a dominant chord is to utilize the b9 sound. This one altered note adds a touch more dissonance that will pull the V7 toward the tonic.

The b9 of V7 naturally resolves to the 5th of the I chord:

A skeleton of melodic movement containing this altered 9th would look like this:

Take a listen to a few examples of this altered note in action. Let’s start with the melody of Donna Lee:

In the 12th and 16th bars of the melody the b9 is accentuated on the V7 chord and resolved in the next bar.

The first note he plays on the bridge is a b9 (1:24 in the video). Again the b9 is used on the dominant sound as a tension note that leads to resolution.

In both cases this b9 wants to resolve downward, eventually arriving at the 3rd of the following chord. This altered note has a unique sound that you need to learn how to manipulate in your improvising.

Get the sound of this note in your ear, experiment with it in the practice room, and use it in your solos.

2) V7 #9

Next explore the sound of the #9. The #9 naturally resolves up to the Major 7 of the I chord:

The #9 and b9 are also often paired together on a V7 chord as shown below:

Keep in mind that the #9 is also the minor 3rd, so explore this relationship by switching back and forth by half-step between these two chord tones:

Check out this article for more ideas on the V7 #9 chord and work on incorporating this sound on your approach to dominant chords.

3) V7#11

The #11 of the V7 chord resolves to root of tonic:

It’s important to make a distinction between a V7#11 and a V7b5 chord. On a V7#11, the #11 refers to the upper structure of the chord, so the 5th is natural, however on a V7b5 chord the 5th is flat.

A Maj triad over G7

D melodic minor over G7

F Major 7 #5 over G7

These 3 harmonic approaches to the dominant chord all imply the same V7#11 sound, with different approaches:

Melodic minor from the 5th

Major 7 #5 from the 7th

Major triad from the 2nd

Depending on your language and technique each will produce different possibilities.

4) V7 flat 13/ sharp 5

The b13 resolves up to the 3rd and down to the 9th:

To highlight the b13 or #5 you can use a descending Augmented triad:

Or you can employ a whole tone scale (#4, #5):

Listen to how Monk uses the whole tone scale over the V7 chord on his blues, Blue Monk (1:03-1:04):

5) Tritone Substitution, V7 flat 5 flat 9

One common bebop reharmonization technique over the V7 sound was the tritone substitution. For example the tritone substitution of a Db Major triad over a G7 chord:

This sound highlights the b5 and b9 of the V7 chord:

The b5 has a distinctive sound when it used over a V7 chord, it’s dissonant and immediately grabs your ear. For example listen to the melody of Tune Up:

The melody emphasizes the tritone on the V7 chords. Focus on the third note of the melody, the b5 (tritone) resolving to the 5th of the V chord and ultimately to the 3rd of the I chord.

6) Altered Scale/ Melodic Minor

The altered scale utilizes all of the altered notes (b9, #9, #11, and b13):

This altered scale is sometimes referred to as a diminished whole-tone scale (it’s part half-whole diminished scale and part whole-tone scale) and is also the melodic minor scale starting on the 7th note (in G7, an Ab melodic minor scale).

Take a listen to the video below, at 4:54 Freddie begins his solo by creatively using the altered scale:

Each of these triads have their own unique sound and method of resolution. Strive to familiarize your ear with the sound of each of these “dissonant” or non-diatonic triads.

10) Diminished (minor 3rd) relationships

Finally explore the use of the diminished relationship over the V7 sound.

To begin play Major triads separated by minor 3rds starting on the tonic of the dominant chord, for G7:

An example of a line using this diminished relationship is below, a whole step below each diminished chord tone:

Listen to how John Coltrane uses this pattern in his solo on Moment’s Notice (2:09 – 2:11):

There are a number of different patterns that you can play using the sequence of diminished thirds.

Besides triads or scale patterns, you can also explore different intervals from each of the Diminished chord tones (4ths, 5ths, etc.)

Take a listen to Mulgrew Miller’s solo in the video below, specifically around 2:00 – 2:05 mins:

He is using the minor 3rd relationship and descend in 4ths from each root note.

Or check out Michael Brecker’s solo on My One and Only Love. In just the opening few minutes you’ll hear multiple uses of this diminished 3rd relationship over the V7 sound:

If you want more practice, more examples, and more techniques for this sound, check our diminished handbook.

Connecting theory and language

The main thing to keep in mind with these 10 options is that they are just theory devices…

To use these sounds in your solos, they need be musical. Time, articulation, rhythmic variety, sound, and a logical placement within the phrase. The way that you achieve all of this is through listening, transcribing and applying these harmonic concepts musically in your own solos.

The best players seamlessly blend these concepts in and out of their lines as they play. It’s not a cut and paste approach, rather one that is effortless and musical – another harmonic option that adds tension and interest to the age old tonic/dominant relationship.

However this is not an overnight process, it takes hours of practice and trial and error on the bandstand to make these concepts effortless. You must get the sound of each of these V7 alterations in your ear and ingrain them into your fingers.

Begin by going to the piano and playing each of these altered notes over a simple V7 voicing.

Then in your practice take a piece of language that you’ve already transcribed, a ii-V-I line or a chorus of blues, and experiment by altering the V7 chord using the techniques shown above.

With this method you’ll quickly add interest to that familiar language, you’ll begin to create new lines of your own, and most importantly, you won’t be stuck with the usual mixolydian modes or bebop scales, you’ll truly have an entire spectrum of sound at your disposal!

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